National Gender Mainstreaming and Auditing Consultant

Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women's rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Through its programmatic engagement, UN Women is supporting national partners (governmental and non-governmental) in the implementation of existing international and national commitments to women’s rights and gender equality, it facilitates networking and exchange of good practices and advocates for women’s rights and gender equality in all areas of life. Under its Strategic Note (2021 – 2025), UN Women in Bosnia and Herzegovina identifies Gender Responsive Governance as one of the key thematic areas aiming to have women and men equally contributing to and benefiting from more accountable and transparent governance systems that deliver quality public services and ensure rule of law. This work is done through multiple programme components that include (1) increasing capacities of relevant institutions in BiH to ensure that gender-responsive policy making, budgeting and integration of EU gender equality and women’s empowerment commitments are implemented across sectors, and (2) increasing capacities of relevant institutions in BiH and selected CSOs and strengthening their collaboration to implement and monitor implementation of international and national normative commitments.

To support implementation of programmatic interventions under the Normative mandate and Strategic Note component, as well as under the GRB component implemented through the regional programme on “Transformative Financing for Gender Equality towards more Transparent, Inclusive and Accountable Governance in the Western Balkans” funded by Sweden, UN Women is seeking to recruit a National Gender Mainstreaming and Auditing Consultant, who will work under direct supervision of the UN Women Governance and Leaderhsip Coordinator, overall supervision of the UN Women Representative, and in close collaboration with UN Women designated staff.

The overall objective of this consultancy is to contribute to improvement of national normative framework for gender equality and women’s empowerment in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and strengthening accountable and transparent governance systems that deliver quality public services and ensure rule of law.

The immediate objective of this consultancy is to provide expert/peer review of normative tools and analyses developed by UN Women; conceptualize and facilitate a series of sessions and policy dialogues on gender mainstreaming in policy and legislation and alignment with international standards; and support development and implementation of the regional parallel gender audit of public sector institutions.

Duties and Responsibilities

Based on the above-described objectives of the assignment, under the supervision of UN Women Governance and Leadership Coordinator and in close collaboration with UN Women Gender Responsive Governance programme team, selected national consultant is expected to undertake the following tasks and responsibilities:

Develop a detailed workplan and methodology to include, (1) outline of the gender mainstreaming training, (2) technical audit assistance plan to support audit institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the process of parallel regional gender audit of institutions in 2023, (3) activity timetable, and (4) expected results. The workplan should be revisited and adjusted as necessary at the beginning of 2023 to ensure its relevance.
Provide expert/peer review of the legal impact analysis of BiH Gender Equality Law on gender equality and women’s empowerment in BiH and a checklist for alignment of policy and legislation with BiH GEL for use by legislators and other interested parties.
Provide expert/peer review of the monitoring and reporting framework for international and national GEWE normative commitments.
Conceptualize and facilitate one policy dialogue session on SDG 5 for Transparent, Inclusive and Accountable Governance during the SDG Week from 19 to 23 September 2022, and draft conclusions following the event. The event should be no longer than 3 hours and should include 2 panel discussions. Location: Sarajevo.
Conceptualize and facilitate a one-day training session on gender mainstreaming in policy and legislation and alignment with international standards as part of larger capacity building trainings, as follows: (1) Two sessions with relevant institutions in September 2022 (Location: Neum TBC) and November 2022 (Location: Tarcin TBC), (2) Two sessions with selected CSOs in September 2022 (Location: Neum TBC) and November 2022 (Location: Tarcin TBC), (3) One session with supreme audit institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina in September 2022 (Location: Tarcin TBC). For each of these sessions, presentations, handouts and pre/post-training evaluation forms should be prepared.
Provide expert/peer review of the draft and final Country Gender Equality Profile 2021-2022. This refers to an update of the Country Gender Equality Profile from 2020 to include developments from 2021-2022 and focus on SDG 5 progress.
Develop methodology to implement regional parallel gender audit of public sector institutions based on the Practice Guide to Auditing Gender Equality in Western Balkans. The methodology should include a detailed set of audit questions based on the agreed goals and indicators.
Continuously deliver the previously agreed technical audit assistance plan and submit monthly progress updates on the mentoring work and results for the period JAN-NOV 2023.
Provide regular updates on the status and progress of implementation through monthly email reports and weekly meetings
Prepare final consultancy report in English not exceeding 5 pages outlining results and recommendations.

To facilitate delivery of the above outputs, UN Women will provide the consultant the following:

Draft legal impact analysis of BiH Gender Equality Law on gender equality and women’s empowerment in BiH and a checklist for alignment of policy and legislation with BiH GEL
Draft monitoring and reporting framework for international and national GEWE normative commitments
Country Gender Equality Profile 2020 and draft Country Gender Equality Profile 2021-2022
Practice Guide to Auditing Gender Equality in Western Balkans
UNSDCF 2021-2025 and Joint Work Plan 2021-2022
Socio-economic assessments produced by UN Women and UN in BiH
Other documents and contacts as necessary

The consultant will be expected to submit the following deliverables within the indicative timeframe:

No.

Deliverables

Indicative Working Days

Due date

1

Workplan, expert review of the legal impact analysis of BiH Gender Equality Law, and review of the monitoring and reporting framework for GEWE normative commitments submitted

6

9 SEP 2022

2

Policy dialogue on SDG 5 for Transparent, Inclusive and Accountable Governance prepared and facilitated, and conclusions drafted

2

25 SEP 2022

3

Session on gender mainstreaming in policy and legislation and alignment with international standards prepared, adjusted and delivered 5 times, and evaluation report submitted for each

10

20 NOV 2022

4

Expert review of the draft and final Country Gender Equality Profile 2021-2022 provided

5

1 DEC 2022

5

Methodology to implement regional parallel gender audit of public sector institutions developed

10

1 DEC 2022

6

Technical audit assistance plan delivered regularly and monthly progress updates on the mentoring work and results for the period JAN-NOV 2023 submitted

40

1 DEC 2023

7

Final consultancy report outlining results and recommendations prepared and approved by UN Women

2

5 DEC 2023

Total

75

19 AUG 2022 – 15 DEC 2023

The consultancy will last up to 75 consultancy days, in the period from 19 August 2022 – 15 December 2023. The assignment will not require presence on UN Women premises.

All deliverables should be submitted to the UN Women Governance and Leadership Coordinator in English unless agreed otherwise in the workplan. The final consultancy report outlining results and recommendations should be delivered by 5 December 2023 and should not exceed 5 pages. Approval time required to review the deliverables before authorizing payments is 7 days.

Competencies

Core Values/guiding principles:

Integrity - Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
Professionalism - Demonstrate professional competence and Consultant knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.
Cultural sensitivity and respect for diversity - Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Additionally, the individual should have an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

Planning & Organizing – Develops clear goals in line with agreed strategies, identifies priorities, foresees risks and makes allowances accordingly.
Organizational Awareness - Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.
Teamwork - Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
Accountability – Takes ownership of all responsibilities and delivers outputs in accordance with agreed time, cost and quality standards.

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge Management and Learning

Shares knowledge and experience
Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside UN Women
Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more practice areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills
Development and Operational Effectiveness
Demonstrates excellent written and oral communication skills. Communicates sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies
Demonstrates very good understanding of and experience in communications and outreach/advocacy
Ability to perform a variety of standard specialized and non-specialized tasks and work processes that are fully documented, researched, recorded and reported
Ability to review a variety of data, identify and adjust discrepancies, identify and resolve operational problems
Uses Information Technology effectively as a tool and resource

Leadership and Self-Management

Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
Remains calm, in control and good humoured even under pressure
Proven networking skills and ability to generate interest in UN Women’s mandate
Identifies opportunities and builds strong partnerships with clients and partners

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

Master’s degree in law, social sciences, gender studies or related field. Bachelor’s degree in the same or related field is acceptable in lieu of a master’s degree with additional 2 years of relevant experience.

Work Experience:

At least 7 years of demonstrated work experience in gender mainstreaming and policy analysis in the field of gender responsive governance
At least 5 years of demonstrated experience in policy support to relevant stakeholders in the country, such as gender institutional mechanisms, government institutions, or audit institutions, and civil society
Previous experience working/consulting for international projects/programmes is an asset

Language

Fluency in BCS and English is required

Evaluation

UN Women applies a fair and transparent selection process that takes into account both the technical qualification of potential consultants as well as the financial proposals submitted in support of consultant applications. Candidate applications will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of applicant experience, qualifications and a financial proposal. The contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

responsive/compliant/acceptable,
and having received the highest score out of technical and financial criteria defined below.

Based on a desk technical evaluation, only candidates receiving a minimum of 50 points at technical evaluation will be considered for validation interview.

Criteria:
Technical Evaluation (70%) – 70 points

Masters degree in law, social sciences, gender studies or related field. Bachelor’s degree in the same or related field is acceptable in lieu of a master’s degree with additional 2 years of relevant experience. – SATISFACTORY/UNSATISFACTORY
At least 7 years of demonstrated work experience in gender mainstreaming and policy analysis in the field of gender responsive governance – 30 points
At least 5 years of demonstrated experience in policy support to relevant stakeholders in the country, such as gender institutional mechanisms, government institutions, or audit institutions, and civil society – 30 points
Previous experience working/consulting for international projects/programmes is an asset – 10 points
Fluency in English and B/H/S, excellent spoken and written skills – SATISFACTORY/UNSATISFACTORY

Financial Evaluation (30%) – 30 points

Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 30

S - score received on financial evaluation
Fmin - the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round
F - financial offer under the consideration.